Projections and Interface Conditions

Book excerpt: This collection of previously unpublished papers explores the implications of Chomsky's "Minimalist" framework for the modularity of grammar, which simplifies the "modular" approach he took in his Government and Binding theory of grammar. According to this theory autonomous grammatical components (phonological, syntactic, morphological, and semantic) coexist and interact like building blocks, using a given set of principles at given levels of representation. Chomsky's assertions have sparked a great deal of theoretical debate, especially with regard to the nature and interaction of each of the building blocks. The contributors to this volume join the debate in a series of case studies that compare modularity in English, French, and Italian, among other languages. In the process they address such issues as the autonomy and applications of modules and their distribution in theory, as well as the role of functional projects in their derivations. Projections and Interface Conditions will interest researchers in any of the above mentioned languages, as well as the large number of linguists working in the Chomskyan tradition.